A golf club includes several components, namely a club head, a shaft, and a grip. While there are variations among the heads and the shafts in a set of clubs, there is commonality with the grips. Each club, with perhaps the exception of the putter, will have the same grip in a set of matched clubs. Different manufacturers produce different types of grips, some being made of leather and others being made of a synthetic material, such as a hard foam or rubber-like material. Some grips are have a fairly smooth surface while others have a more textured feel to them, whether the result of a pebbled surface or a grooved surface or a combination of both.
During the life of a set of clubs, which could be many years for the occasional golfer or one year or less for a professional golfer, one can expect the grips to wear and to become smoother and slippery with use. For most types of grips the wearing down of the surface texture could mean that the golfer will have more difficulty in maintaining his or her usual grip and this could affect the golfer's swing and the consistency of his or her game. There is a need for a device which can restore the texture or "feel" of a golf club grip so that the golfer is not forced to pay to have his clubs re-gripped whenever the grips in use become worn and inappropriately smoother than is desirable.
The problem above has been addressed for example in Canadian Patent Application No. 2,023,682 of John Kajfasz which was laid open to public inspection on Jul. 19, 1991. That application discloses an elongated element having therein a longitudinally extending semi-circular groove with an abrasive material such as sandpaper adhered to the surface of the groove. The device is rubbed along and around the grip so as to roughen the surface thereof. The sandpaper will eventually wear out and will have to be replaced. Also, the person using this device will have to experiment considerably in order to achieve an acceptable degree of roughness imparted to the grip. The device is large and is not something that the average golfer would want to carry in his golf bag; nor is it suitable for use by a golf club technician at a golf center or pro-shop, particularly because of the wear problem and the artistry required to use it properly. In addition, sandpaper is not always capable of creating the desired roughness of the grip. By its very nature, sandpaper is expected to smooth a surface, not to roughen it.